We should try to get Amare

[billfromBoston]

If you can get a 26 year old franchise PF, you do it - no questions asked.

Rondo will be a star, but its much easier to build a contending team when you already have your bigs in place - having Perk/KG/Amare allows for amazing production now and in the future - a 3 big man rotation would allow each to play 32 mpg if they all played equal minutes - both KG and Amare can play either frontcourt position when paired with the other and the offensive fire power would be unmatched at those two positions.

Rondo is not a player you trade lightly, but if you have the opportunity to lock of PF as a top 5 scorer in the league - which Amare would be again once on a team that had only 3 main scorers - you do it.

team could sign Marbury to be their veteran PG and focus on drafting or acuiring a "PG of the future" over the next 3-4 seasons...many teams win titles without a star PG, very few win without a dominant frontcourt player -- KG won't be dominant forever, though he'll be an excellent player for another 4-5 years if he wants to be....bottom line, get Stoudamire if you can.

Barbosa would clearly be the 6th man off the bench - the role he is best at - add one of the bigs to the "bench unit" sprinkle in Bill Walker's athleticism and pick up one more vet wing and you've got yourself an explosive 2nd unit with two-way potential.

Rondo is awesome, but he's not the end-all-be-all key to winning another title...Amare would make rebuilding much, much easier over the next few years as Pierce and KG transition to role players....Rondo's best strength is creating for others, not scoring himself...we'll need a go-to scorer pretty soon...

[Andrew McCeltic]

Here's what I don't get- if Amare's a franchise PF, why do the Suns want to trade him? Can't they rebuild around him? Is their financial situation that desperate?

Stoudamire makes me nervous, there are some star young power forwards who dropped off precipitously as age and injuries worked on them- Kemp and McDyess come to mind. If it seems too good to be true..

[cfan79]

Nicely written Bill. The only team I can think of that didn't have a great big man was the 1st Bulls 3-peat team.(I might be underrating Horace) But they had to have the greatest player in NBA history.

[billfromBoston]

Age is not a factor for Amare - he's 26...Phoenix is reshuffling the deck and Amare can get them multiple pieces to do that - they don't want to commit to him for a contract extension if they are so unsettled at all their other positions - much easier to aquire some young pierces, see what works and then make a financial commitment to the right "missing piece" or two to bring it all together...bad way to rebuild by commmitting max money to a single player and then have to find 12 more guys to put around him.

Kemp was a coked out moron and McDyess **** his knee up twice and then opted to become a role player instead of signing with Boston - he had plenty of game left when he finally got healthy...Amare's knee is fine and the prognosis on his eye injury seems to be good...he's not a great rebounder or defender, but he is an EXCEPTIONAL offensive player who would be in a system that surrounded him with defensive-minded teammates - he's never been in such an environment.

Its not going to happen anyways...GS package is much better - Rondo is the best player rumored to go for Amare, but Boston can't offer the depth of talent GS can....we'll lose out to the Warriors...if they are even still considering trading Rondo at all...

[Colossus]

I think if Golden State isn't putting Curry in the deal then we could definitely outbid them. Ray and Rondo for Amare, Barbosa and possibly Earl Clark or Robin Lopez is a decent offer.

Why in the world would Phoenix want one year of Ray, and Rondo, for Amare, Barbosa and plus one? I don't even think they'd do Amare/Barbosa for those two, let alone throw in someone else. Maybe if we also threw in Big Baby and a future 1st. I don't even know if they'd still accept. Then again how desperately do they want to cut salary? I'd be thrilled if that went down, personally.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Zach Randolph is an exceptional offensive player too, why don't we trade for him? He'd be cheaper.

Randolph and Amare on the trade market remind me of Baron Davis and Marbury a few seasons ago. Both expensive, gaudy stats, the argument that they're in a bad situation and a change of scenery could help.

[cfan79]

[
Why in the world would Phoenix want one year of Ray, and Rondo, for Amare, Barbosa and plus one? I don't even think they'd do Amare/Barbosa for those two, let alone throw in someone else. Maybe if we also threw in Big Baby and a future 1st.

Amare has a player option after next season. This is one of the many reasons Golden State seems to want to back out of a deal. (others being his knees and not wanting Curry in the deal) Phoenix also doesn't like how much Barbosa is getting paid and want to toss him or Richardson into the deal.

Plus Steve Nash is getting old and doesn't want to be a part of the rebuilding project. Phoenix probably wouldn't want to pay him to be either.

[Colossus]

Zach Randolph is an exceptional offensive player too, why don't we trade for him? He'd be cheaper.

Randolph and Amare on the trade market remind me of Baron Davis and Marbury a few seasons ago. Both expensive, gaudy stats, the argument that they're in a bad situation and a change of scenery could help.

Randolph is a 20 and 10 player.. then again, he doesn't play D. Would playing next to KG and playing on our team mask that, or have him step up his D? Who knows.

[Colossus]

[
Why in the world would Phoenix want one year of Ray, and Rondo, for Amare, Barbosa and plus one? I don't even think they'd do Amare/Barbosa for those two, let alone throw in someone else. Maybe if we also threw in Big Baby and a future 1st.

Amare has a player option after next season. This is one of the many reasons Golden State seems to want to back out of a deal. (others being his knees and not want Curry in the deal) They also don't like how much Barbosa is getting paid and want to toss him or Richardson into the deal.

Plus Steve Nash is getting old and doesn't want to be apart of the rebuilding project. Phoenix probably wouldn't want to pay him to be either.

Well if they're 100% sure Amare is going to walk out on them anyway, then I see where you're going with it. I just don't understand how they could let him go for peanuts, 26 year old athletic, productive big men don't grow on trees.

But if they're having a firesale, let's throw our hat in!

[Hemingway]

I could go either way on a deal like this. I think if the offer was indeed on the table the deciding factor could very well be who we could get at point guard for the MLE. If Kidd, Miller or Nash(if bought out) wanted to come here for a couple years than we probably do the deal. With Kidd for example, we wouldn't lose much in the short term. Another option could be to wait until mid season and if we keep our MLE maybe we could work a deal where Ray agrees to give a generous buy out and take our MLE over 4-6 years. If Marbs really works out we could still have a good back court.

[GreenDreamer]

Age is not a factor for Amare - he's 26...Phoenix is reshuffling the deck and Amare can get them multiple pieces to do that - they don't want to commit to him for a contract extension if they are so unsettled at all their other positions - much easier to aquire some young pierces, see what works and then make a financial commitment to the right "missing piece" or two to bring it all together...bad way to rebuild by commmitting max money to a single player and then have to find 12 more guys to put around him.

Kemp was a coked out moron and McDyess **** his knee up twice and then opted to become a role player instead of signing with Boston - he had plenty of game left when he finally got healthy...Amare's knee is fine and the prognosis on his eye injury seems to be good...he's not a great rebounder or defender, but he is an EXCEPTIONAL offensive player who would be in a system that surrounded him with defensive-minded teammates - he's never been in such an environment.

Its not going to happen anyways...GS package is much better - Rondo is the best player rumored to go for Amare, but Boston can't offer the depth of talent GS can....we'll lose out to the Warriors...if they are even still considering trading Rondo at all...

I'm not buying it, Bill. I don't think that he's a franchise player. At least the kind who gets you anywhere in the way that te true MVP caliber players do. He is very talented, but that just ain't enough. It should also be remembered that this guy's rep has been established while playing alongside Steve Nash all of these years. So we are going to move our point guard to get him? Who is going top throw this guy his alley oop passes? Who is going to manage his game? He has been used to paying a certain way all of these years. Not to mention, he really, really likes scoring. The 21 points he got this season just wasn't enough for him.

Regarding the defense, we are shippng out our entire starting backcourt, including the best defensive point guard in the league. The whole "surrounding him with defenders" thing starts to fall apart when you don't actually have them anymore. He can only play with Perk or KG, not both at the same time. See how you are removing the defenders in this scenario? You bring a shooting guard in, he can play with Rondo, Paul, KG and Perk. You bring this dude in, and lose Rondo, you are down to two f them at any one time. A whole different kettle of fish.

The health thing is the kiss of death for me, when the rest is considered. I don't want Wade here because of his health and the money that would be involved, so forget about Amare. At least Wade is a true competitor.

[cfan79]

The health thing is the kiss of death for me, when the rest is considered. I don't want Wade here because of his health and the money that would be involved, so forget about Amare. At least Wade is a true competitor.

That's the silliest thing I've ever heard in my life. If Wade came to the Celtics we would get at least 2 more titles. The guy gets to the line when people breath on him. I want that guy on our side.

[DirtyDez]

Here's what I don't get- if Amare's a franchise PF, why do the Suns want to trade him? Can't they rebuild around him? Is their financial situation that desperate?

Stoudamire makes me nervous, there are some star young power forwards who dropped off precipitously as age and injuries worked on them- Kemp and McDyess come to mind. If it seems too good to be true..

We want to trade him because:
1. He has 2 bad knees
2. 1 bad eye
3. Has 1 year left on his deal
4. Wants a max contract
5. Doesn't care about defense or rebounding
6. Curry was high on our board and Nellie pulled the offer off the table when Curry fell to them

[Celtics_85]

2 reasons not to trade for Amare:

Perk D = Amare O
Perk O > Amare D
Perk contract > Amare contract


Rondo Overall Game > Amare Overall Game
Rondo younger than Amare
Rondo makes everyone around him better

[rsavaj]

I think if Golden State isn't putting Curry in the deal then we could definitely outbid them. Ray and Rondo for Amare, Barbosa and possibly Earl Clark or Robin Lopez is a decent offer.

That's a pretty terrible offer.

[cfan79]

That's a pretty terrible offer.

You're not going to get much better. Amare is not a franchise player like people in Arizona keep saying. I'd put a lot of big guys ahead of him in the NBA. Plus the guy has had his injuries and if he stayed with the Suns he'd walk and you'd be left with nothing.

[sully00]

Anyone comparing Amare to Randolph needs to get a clue it isn't fantasy basketball. How you do it when you do it matters.

Both Perkins and Garnett's rebounding went down when they started playing together, why would the same thing not happen to Amare with Shaq?

Amare is Al Jefferson with KG's jumper shot and more athletic. Would you trade Rondo and Ray for Al? Even with a bad knee and never having been a decent team? Of course you would.

I don't think Rondo's salary desires play into the situation at all, that is a next year issue. This team can absolutely win a championship with Barbosa at the 2 and Kidd at the point.

Amare is a franchise player and worth the max. PHX's problem is everyone know's they can just buy him next season, that he is the one big time FA that essentially has no chance of re upping with his team and trading for him would actually make him cost you more money than signing him in FA.

However you slice it I think it would cost Boston Rondo and Perk and that is a coin flip for me. Perk is a really rare player and is just the kind of guy championship teams have, at the same time they usually aren't the guys that headline a championship team.